Miceli Throws His Support Behind $38.1B State Budget

(Editor's note: The following information was submitted by the office of State Rep. Jim Miceli, D-Wilmington.)

State Rep. Jim Miceli, D-Wilmington, along with the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Senate, came to agreement on the passage of the joint version of the state budget after brief debate.

With near unanimous approval the $38.1 billion dollar budget now finds itself on the way to Gov. Baker’s desk, where it will wait for any prospective changes by the executive branch. Successfully addressing a $1.8 billion dollar shortfall the current version of the budget reigned back spending growth to 3%, and included a larger proportion for local school support, transit funds, and unrestricted aid to towns than in previous years.

Tewksbury and Wilmington are set to receive $12,828,290 and $10,978,730 respectively for Chapter 70 school support, and $2,567,783 and $2,292,313 for local aid to each town.

In the current version of the budget both Tewksbury and Wilmington are set to receive a number of unique line-item expenditures sponsored by Miceli, including $25,000 in funding for the Wilmington Wildcat Community Service Program, $12,000 for the Best Buddies Program of Tewksbury, and $20,000 to Tewksbury’s Camp Pohelo. In addition to these items, Representative Miceli and the House supported a $90,000 amendment original sponsored by Senator L’Italien for additional funding for the fire department.

“I am proud of our efforts here in the legislature to cast a budget that worked with Governor Baker to address the budget gap, reign in spending to a respectable and restrained growth, and still manage to increase the proportion to support our local school districts and towns” said Miceli.